It started on Wednesday night, actually, when I had to make 6 dozen cookies for a party Thursday night. I was invited to this cookie exchange party a few weeks ago, but I was thinking I probably wouldn’t go because, come on, am I going to make 6 dozen cookies? Not likely. But I was temporarily forgetting who I am now married to, and when I told Kyle about it, he was all, “That’s not that many cookies. I’ll help!” The party was on Thursday night, so Wednesday night found us making 6 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. And by “us” I mostly mean “him.” I started out well! I helped measuring out stuff, and mixing and whatnot. And I scooped out a tray of cookies. But we decided to have Panda for dinner, and somebody had to stay with the cookies (and clearly that needed to be him), so I went to get food. And he’s the one who can tell when things are done cooking, and is a genius with cookies, so I fear that the remainder of the work somehow fell to him. But the cookies no doubt turned out much better for it! They were quite tasty…
Thursday afternoon I went visiting teaching, which involved a lot of being reassured that California winters are NOT THIS COLD. EVAR. (It’s already warmed up again–last week was just freakishly cold, actually freezing! I even wore my scarf all week!) Oh, also, it was Kyle’s turn to lock up the church building last week, so we got to go do that every night around 10. We got pretty good at doing it quickly (we had to check all the doors and windows and everything), and I think it’s helped me figure out the layout of that crazy building. But of course it had to be during such a cold week!
So then the party was Thursday night. It was actually a lot of fun. It was mostly a bunch of women from the ward, and we sat around talking for a while. Then we played Christmas carols on handbells, which was a lot of goofy silly fun. After that, we loaded up our trays with a huge selection of cookies and treats (way too many for the two of us here in this apartment!) and talked some more. Nothing too stressful, so it was a good time.
Friday morning was my book group, which involved several of the same women as the cookie party. In addition to discussing our December book, we were coming up with books for next year, so I came prepared. I had a devious plan, and it worked! I managed to get several of the books from my wishlist on the schedule. So even if I don’t get them for Christmas, I’ll still have to buy them for book club! Bwa ha ha… I really enjoy book club, actually, because it gives me something to do and gets me out of the house and socializing. The other women are all older and have kids in middle school, so the conversations always end up being about that, but I don’t really mind. It’s still good to be out with other people, and they’re super nice. Even if I always seem to balk at going the night before because…well…I’m me.
Oh, also on Friday, we got a package from my parents: our Christmas gift from them. They sent an email saying it was our Christmas gift, so not to open it yet, but Kyle had the idea to open and wrap it with our eyes closed. So we did. It actually came out really well, and now we have a present under Albert. (We actually think this would be a great FHE activity, perhaps especially for singles’ wards.)
On Saturday, I went to a baby shower. I usually avoid such things, but I really like this lady, so I went. And it was okay, because her friend who hosted the shower also hates shower games. Thank goodness. I was telling Kyle about why I didn’t really want to go and horrifying him with some of the games that get played at baby showers. But there weren’t any! We talked, ate food, and opened gifts. It was good.
Saturday night Kyle was getting stir-crazy from being in the apartment all day, so we went to the mall to wander around (you just know this is something I would never suggest, but I went along because I love him). I did get a very good soft pretzel out of the deal, though. And it was very jolly and Christmasy and all. And absolutely packed with people. This is also when my throat started hurting. (Dun dun DUN!) Not like a sore, scratchy throat, just like it was swollen and hurting from the pressure. And not up where your lymph nodes are (at least not where the ones you normally think of are, up under your jaw; I know you actually have a bunch, and I don’t know where they all are), but down at the bottom of my neck in front, where that little hollow is. It kind of came and went, though, so I mostly tried to ignore it and hoped it would go away overnight. Sometimes that happens, right?
Well, when I got up on Sunday to get ready for church, my throat was much worse. It throbbed very painfully every time I moved, though it still wasn’t visibly swollen. I tried really hard, but I couldn’t quite manage to stay calm. It was kinda strange, actually. I told myself over and over that it was almost certainly just a cold (granted, that would have been more convincing if I’d had any other symptoms, or if I’d ever had a sore throat like this other than last January, but still) and that I’m really not at any greater risk than anybody else for developing another abscess, which puts the odds at about nil. I told myself that it was probably only a little bit of swelling that was pushing up against scar tissue that has very little give in it, and that was what was causing the pain. Kyle also suggested that my body is just being hypersensitive to anything going on in that area, which is also a very good possibility. And I really did accept all of this stuff in my head. But for some reason, that didn’t have much of an effect on the knot of terror in my chest, and I couldn’t help crying every time my throat started throbbing. I decided I was in no shape to go try and teach my primary class (which made me feel stupid), so I called the primary president and told her I couldn’t make it and Kyle went to church without me. I stayed home and read and watched TV–basically, I wanted to relax and rest inside, out of the cold and wet. It’s so annoying to know you’re overreacting but not be able to get a grip! By Monday, though, my throat was much better, back to only throbbing intermittently, and today it’s almost completely better. So I’m fine, despite my idiotic overreactions, and hopefully, this episode will help me handle things better next time!
We don’t have a whole lot going on this week except for preparations for leaving for Connecticut on Sunday. We’ve got Christmas shopping about wrapped up, thankfully. Kyle’s work is fairly slow now since a lot of people will be taking time off. He’s got a lot of parties, though, so at least that’s keeping him busy.
